Kagome sighed as she was forced into the black strapless dress and matching black heels. She subjected herself to being Sango's "Doll" and allowed her to put make up on her face. It's not that Kagome disliked looking nice, it was simply a matter of being a professional who didn't wear much make up.
"You look gorgeous!" Sango cheered, holding up a mirror.
"I don't understand why I have to look "gorgeous", it's just dinner with a client. It's not a date." Kagome sighed. She had to admit she looked very nice though.
"It may not be a date but it's a very expensive restaurant, and it won't kill you if you dress up a little." She laughed.
"Well you never know, I might break my neck in these heels." She pouted.
"They're only 4 inches."
"Only she says!"
Kagome sat at a rather isolated booth in the Blue Sakura, Sesshomaru-senpai thought privacy would be best. She was drumming her fingers on the table top, she'd gotten there almost ten minutes early, as requested by her client, and had brought his case file.
"Sorry, I'm late. The security was brutal." A deep baritone voice called to her, she looked up and saw a man with long silver hair, the cutest puppy dog ears, piercing golden eyes, and a handsome face. He stood 6 foot 4 with the sort of lean muscled body that came from years of training.
"No, no it's alright, it's only 3 minutes." She laughed softly, but her eyes saddened. Suddenly she understood the real challenge behind the case. Inuyasha was a half demon, and even in this modern era a good deal of people were still prejudiced against half demons and unions between humans and demons.
"No excuse to keep a lovely lady waiting." He grinned, a fang poking out of his lip. It sent a shiver down her spine to see that smile. He sat down across from her, long silver hair around his shoulders, a black three piece suit hugging his frame, a red shirt and black tie to finish it off.
"So you're Sesshomaru-senpai's brother? My brother Miroku and you used to hang out in high school if I remember correctly." She fidgeted in her seat.
"Yeah, fluffy's my big brother. I remember Miroku-kun, we hung out every weekend playing video games and watching horror movies." He chuckled softly.
"Well anyway, thank you for inviting me to dinner, but, morally speaking, I have to ask. Did you kill Kikyo?" Kagome asked seriously.
"Ms. Higurashi, I swear I did not kill Kikyo, I love her, I have for a very long time. I was heart broken when she left me but I just wanted her to be happy. When she tried to give back the ring I told her to keep it. I thought she was making a huge mistake dating Naraku, but that's what she wanted and it was not my place to stop her." He said with an air of honesty and pain that made Kagome's heart break in sympathy for the man. "When I found out she died I was devastated, and even worse than that, because I was accused of Kikyo's murder I couldn't even attend her funeral and pay my respects." He sighed and looked down with saddened eyes.
"I'm so sorry." She frowned softly and patted his clawed hand.
"It-it's ok... do you think it would be possible for you to accompany me to her grave? I'd like to say goodbye, even if it's been six months already I still feel like I should say goodbye." He pleaded softly, not quite begging but allowing himself to be humbled by the pain behind the request.
"I'd be honored to accompany you. I know this is hard but, I'd like to help you prove your innocence so I need to talk to you about the case ok?"
"Yes.. yes of course Ms. Higurashi."
"You can call me Kagome, Inuyasha."
"Thank you.. Kagome."
"Of course, now then something you said caught my interest. You said Kikyo attempted to give the ring back?" She furrowed her brow, ignoring the thrill that shot through her when Inuyasha said her name and focusing on the job in front of her.
"Yes, the day we broke up actually. We finally calmed down long enough to talk rationally and she said she was sorry but this was just something she felt she had to do. She took the ring off and handed it to me. I just shook my head and asked her to keep it. She argued that it wasn't right but, I had picked specifically for her. I didn't want it. Honestly I didn't even like the ring, I'd always told myself I would give the girl I married my mother's ring but, Kikyo didn't like it and it didn't fit her finger. So I just bought her one from Tiffany's."
"I see, was this ever mentioned in court? The part about you telling her to keep the ring? More importantly can you prove this conversation actually happened?"
"No it wasn't brought up in court why? And yes, her younger sister Kaede walked in when we were screaming, she was trying to keep the peace and she helped me convince Kikyo to just keep the ring."
"Inuyasha this is perfect! If we can prove that you didn't attempt to steal the ring and pearl back that shakes the foundation of the entire argument. It removes a driving factor behind motive. Did she try to give the pearl back too or just the ring?"
"Just the ring, the pearl was a gift before she agreed to marry me. It was a five year anniversary present completely separate from the engagement. I made it clear the night I gave it to her that no matter what happened that pearl was hers."
"I see, well still this is good. This helps disprove some of the accusations. I have a question, I had at first assumed you had human like ears but, looking at you I can see that is not the case so I must ask, on the pawn shop surveillance does the man that resembles you have ears similar to yours?"
"I'm not sure, I never actually saw the surveillance tapes. They were shown to the attorney's but since the quality was so poor they didn't even bother playing them."
"Yet the prosecution referenced them as evidence?"
"Yes, they called on one of the reviewers to state that there was a man who resembled me on the tape. The reviewer stated that it was impossible to get a positive ID but the man bore a very strong resemblance to me. However, the prosecution made such a moving case that if it weren't for the fact that I was the one being accused I would have believed him."
"This is difficult but, maybe if we can get a hold of those tapes we might be able to discern whether this man's ears match yours or not. That could blow a huge hole in the prosecution's argument. Now I don't know how much more we can really figure out tonight." She frowned softly.
"That's alright, I can see just from the few minutes we've been here that I am in good hands." He winked and turned to the waitress that had finally appeared. "May I please see your wine selection?" He smiled crookedly and the waitress flushed softly. "Kagome, do you prefer white, rosé, or red wines?"
"Oh personally I prefer the sweet fruitiness of the rosés but the reds compliment the dishes I was interested in trying. Hmm." She looked over the menu for a moment.
"We'd like to order two bottles of wine chilled over wine. An off-dry 1923 Valley red for the main course and a bottle of sweet 1957 Fantasy rosé for dessert. Do you know what you would like to order Kagome?"
"Oh you really didn't have to get both Inuyasha," He waved off the comment. "Umm well I was thinking the Grilled lamb with the mashed potatoes and pasta primavera dish sounds excellent."
"As for me, I'd like the Fillet mignon with roasted vegetables and mezza luna ravioli. Thank you." The waitress smiled and blushed as she walked away.
"As I was saying, in the small amount of time we've been here it appears you've made a more compelling argument about my innocence than the last lawyer did in the entire five month trial."
"Well, I uhh umm well Thank you.." She flushed, "But as I was saying it appears as though there really isn't much we can discuss unless you'd like to walk me through that night."
"I could but you'd be terribly bored, I could tell you how I left the office around 11, ran home through the city and got home around 11:30. I could tell you that I took a bath in the hot springs when I got home and that I went to sleep around 12:30. I could tell you how I woke up that night and realized how utterly alone I was," He ran a thumb across the skin of her hand, "Or you could tell me about yourself and allow me this last little pleasure before I die." He smiled sadly and Kagome knew, in that instant, that he was treating this as his last day of freedom.
"You don't know for sure that you will die." She whispered.
"But it's an overwhelming possibility. Everything I've done today I've done because I'm acting as though this is my last day on earth. I spent time with people I cared about, saw my favorite places in Japan, and I got to have dinner at my favorite restaurant with a beautiful woman who fills my heart with hope. Most importantly, I can pretend that I was not accused of this murder and pay my respects to a deceased loved one." He chuckled.
Kagome flushed softly, "Well what would you like to know?" She couldn't bear to deny a dying man his wish.
"Tell me anything, anything at all. A story from your life, a thought, a discussion. I'd like to lose myself in a conversation about something other than myself for once. See, even if I loved Kikyo, I should have known she wasn't really the one. We couldn't hold a decent conversation that didn't center around my wealth, my family, or my plans for the future." He shook his head softly.
Kagome nodded softly, "I understand the feeling, last summer I dated a man named Akitoki and all he ever talked about was my law firm and how I could expand it and make it successful. It was a very short endeavor, I should have known though. He told me he was cousins with my high school boyfriend, that should have been the first red flag." She giggled, relating to the man before her.
"And what was your high school boyfriend like?" Inuyasha seemed completely interested, which honestly shocked Kagome.
"Umm, he wasn't so bad. Kind of a spineless wimp, and his obsession with my health was unnerving. Always bringing me these odd gifts like dried seaweed facial wraps. Not to sound ungrateful or anything but I'm not much one for clingy, yes men. Honestly even though I dated Hojo for a while, I'd had a crush on the bad boy of my school Bankotsu."
"Ahh, I can see it now, a young school girl looking for a strong man to hold onto, pursued relentlessly by the hottest, nicest boy in school who was just not her type. The school rebel was the one who'd caught her eye but alas she finds herself through a twist of fate bound to the man she cannot love. That girl grows and one day finds herself alone at a restaurant having dinner with a dead man." He smiled evilly.
"You.. you have quite the way with words." She swallowed, shivers running up her spine from his tone and words. "Maybe you ought to have been a novelist." She laughed, cheeks bright red.
"I always did love literature, but I'm not one for spinning yarns and telling stories. Although I enjoy reading very much." He laughed, a deep warm sound. The food arrived then, and the waitress swooned from the lovely sound of Inuyasha's laughter. "Ahh, thank you very much miss." He accepted the wine poured them both a half glass of the Valley Red.
"Thank you." Kagome said quietly, though the waitress merely ignored her. Her attention fully on Inuyasha, if he noticed he didn't act on it. She bit into the grilled lamb and couldn't help the soft sound of appreciation that escaped her lips. Too soft to be heard by any human, but Inuyasha picked it up and winked in her direction causing her skin to flush prettily once more. The waitress moved away after failing to get Inuyasha's attention and said she'd be back later to check on them.
"Is there anything else you'd like to tell me? I have a feeling you're the sort of person who can hold entertaining conversations."
"Well, I'm not really used to talking about myself. Most of my conversations these days involve a person's innocence or guilt." A nervous laugh bubbled from her lips.
"What about with your friends?"
"Oh sometimes we reminisce or just talk I guess. I don't think our conversations have any strict pattern, and I've never really had to talk about myself much beyond presenting myself professionally."
They chatted and ate, laughed and gasped, and before they knew it their food was nearly gone and they were deep into a conversation on the merit of weapons in a zombie apocalypse.
"I think a sword would be the best weapon to have, as long as you don't ingest the zombie blood or inhale the virus. The sword is somewhat versatile, at least enough to keep them from getting at your neck. It can attack from as far as it reaches, or from the range within the blade by attacking with the edge of the blade as opposed to the tip. It never needs to be reloaded, it is a lot harder to miss with a sword even without proper training, and you'll never be caught against a wall with the fear that as soon as you run out of bullets you'll die."
"That may be true but, guns are good for all distances, if you can kill a zombie from 20 or even 10 feet away it's so much safer than having to wait until they get within striking distance. Moreover, a zombie could swat the sword out of your hand, which is a chance you take every time you attack with a sword. The gun can be shot from a distance so you don't have to worry about it being taken from you."
"You didn't address the issue of ammo, and zombies don't have the coordination to swat the sword away from you." He paused when the waitress returned asking for dessert. "Kagome, what would you like for dessert?"
"Dessert? Oh.. well I'd love to but I don't think I could finish dessert and I hate to waste food."
"Why don't we share? The chocolate mousse cake here is excellent, and the red velvet cake is very rich."
"Well, the chocolate mousse cake does sound yummy."
"A chocolate mouse cake dessert please, and the rosé as well please." He turned back to her and glanced at the clock. "Wow, I can't believe we've been sitting here for almost two hours, it felt so much shorter. I guess it's true what they say, time flies when you're having fun."
"It is hard to believe. We'll stop by Kikyo's grave after dessert correct?"
"Yes if you don't mind. Sadly I'm playing the part of cinderella today, I have to be back in jail by 12."
"Wow, so the magic wears off at midnight?"
"Yes indeed."
"So tell me, is this whole gentlemanly act the real you, or just how you wished me to see you."
"A little of both, I'm a little wilder in my real life. I've been told I'm something of a demon." He winked. "Usually I'm not so bold either, but I'm feeling arrogant and cocky because this is my last day, so I can afford to act out the dream a little."
"What are you really like?"
"I can say this much, I aint no pansy who brings girls dried seaweed, and I sure as hell don't give a rat's ass about your money or business." He laughed a genuine laugh, not a chuckle or a polite laugh. It was the sort of laugh you heard from a teenager on a joyride, knowing he might die and loving every second of it. It was different, dangerous, and Kagome loved it.